Trey Galloway sat in a black folding chair in front of his blue metal locker, moments removed from Indiana men’s basketball’s season-ending 93-66 loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament on March 15 inside the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Indiana, at 19-14, was effectively eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
Galloway said he didn’t want to experience that feeling again — and he was committed to helping Indiana head coach Mike Woodson build a roster capable of avoiding the lows the 2023-24 team experienced.
The moment the Hoosiers’ season ended, the focus shifted to recruiting, Galloway said.
“Once we came back after the Big Ten Tournament, (I) just got with the coaching staff, and really got to talking about what kind of pieces we need and who we need to be successful next year,” Galloway said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Oct. 3 at Big Ten Men’s Basketball Media Day.
At the time, Indiana didn’t have any high school commitments in its 2024 recruiting class and had plenty of roster holes to fill. The Hoosiers lost six players from their roster: three to the transfer portal, two to graduation and one to the NBA Draft.
Guard depth became problematic, as did 3-point shooting. Indiana finished No. 353 out of 362 teams in attempts from distance last year, averaging just 15.5 per game. The Hoosiers made only 32.4% of their 3-pointers, third worst in the Big Ten.
Toss in the draft departure of All-Big Ten center Kel’el Ware, who led the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game, and Indiana’s roster needed reinforcements. The Hoosiers received six of them through the portal.
And Galloway was at the forefront of their efforts.
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When the transfer portal opened March 18, Galloway opened Instagram and fired direct message after direct message at the portal’s top entrants.
“Just to let them know you’ve got to come visit,” Galloway said, “and you’ve got to take a chance on us.”
But Galloway wasn’t just throwing shots in the dark. Woodson gave Galloway a list of players who stood out to the coaching staff, and Galloway followed by reaching out and talking with every player provided.
He said social media is a strong tactic because players are searching for new homes — and he proverbially started selling real estate in Bloomington.
“Basically, just being a salesman for Indiana,” Galloway said. “Being an advocate, getting guys to try to come here.”
Galloway took the initiative to get involved in recruiting — something he didn’t do the offseason prior. Woodson said Galloway, who played his freshman season in 2020-21 under former head coach Archie Miller, has earned the latitude to carry such a role.
Along with fifth-year senior guard Anthony Leal, Galloway is one of two holdovers from the 2021-22 season, Woodson’s first as head coach. It’s an ironic twist, because Woodson said Galloway and Leal were also the only two players who didn’t raise their hand when Woodson first asked who’d be staying with him upon taking the job in March of 2021.
But much has changed. Galloway and Leal were the first two players to publicly announce their return to the program this spring, doing so during senior day speeches inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Then-senior guard Trey Galloway watches Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton dribble down the court on Feb. 6, 2024, at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Galloway finished the 2023-24 season with a team-high 36 total steals.
Woodson, who has nine years of NBA head coaching experience and 13 as an assistant, wanted to treat the transfer portal like NBA free agency. He cited the 2012 offseason when he was the head coach of the New York Knicks.
New York made eight personnel moves that offseason, with Woodson trying to build a team around forwards Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler and center Amar'e Stoudemire. The Knicks finished the 2012-13 season with a 54-28 record and as winners of the Atlantic Division.
Incorporating input from Anthony, Chandler and Stoudemire, the Knicks added several key complementary pieces, including a pair of guards in Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd who led the team in assists and steals per game.
Woodson took a similar approach to the Hoosiers’ roster this offseason. He not only gave a list to Galloway, but let Galloway provide a list in return.
“You have to sit (the players) down and include them,” Woodson said. “They like to know who you’re going to bring in. We put a group of guys that we think can help us, and you go out and you try to recruit them. That doesn’t mean you’re going to get them.”
But it didn’t stop Galloway from trying.
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Woodson said Indiana didn’t get all the players on Galloway’s list, but the Hoosiers landed some.
One of the top names Galloway gave to Woodson was Illinois transfer Luke Goode, a Fort Wayne, Indiana, native. Galloway said the two were already friends, making the initial contact straightforward.
Goode entered the transfer portal April 22 and visited Indiana April 25-26. Goode committed to Indiana on the last day of his visit.
Goode is one of Galloway’s recruiting success stories. So is redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice, one of the most pursued players in the transfer portal after winning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at Washington State University last season.
Unlike with Goode, Galloway had no prior connection to Rice. It didn’t prevent Galloway from reaching out over direct messages early in the Hoosiers’ pursuit of Rice.
“When you coming to visit?” Galloway texted Rice. “I think you're a big piece that we need. If we get you, we’ll be really good.”
Galloway’s pitch changed depending on the player. He tried to make them more personalized and tell each player how he felt.
An in-state player who often draws some of the loudest cheers at home games, Galloway said Indiana is unlike other basketball programs — not just on the court but off it. And in each conversation, no matter how tailored his message became, he emphasized the uniqueness of Hoosier basketball.
“Trust what we're trying to do,” Galloway said about his pitch. “Because if we get the right pieces, we're going to win, and I truly believe that. The fans, the culture and the history of this place — if you win here, it's not like any other place.”
Leal, who had similar involvement to Galloway with recruiting, said they’d reach out to players in the portal to see where their minds were. The conversation ended if the players’ priorities didn’t align with Indiana’s.
Galloway and Leal weren’t only recruiting talent. They were searching for a mindset.
“We're here to win games,” Leal said. “And when you win as a team, individual success will come. So, being here in a place that will re-pay you for the rest of your life if you’re able to have success is good.”
Then-senior guard Trey Galloway goes up to dunk the ball against Penn State on Feb. 3, 2024, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Galloway averaged a team-high 4.6 assists per game last season.
Galloway wasn’t directly involved with each of Indiana’s six transfers, who comprised the No. 2 portal class in college basketball, according to 247Sports. When sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle entered the transfer portal from Stanford University, he heard from nearly a dozen schools. Carlyle said Indiana’s pursuit was a group effort.
Sophomore guard Gabe Cupps concurred, saying he thinks everyone on the Hoosiers’ roster played a part, be it telling players what they loved about Indiana or why they should be a part of it. Cupps said the Hoosiers’ recruiting effort showed who they are and how they operate, which fostered belief in the program.
But when players visited campus, Galloway’s involvement escalated.
“I was definitely chosen a lot for the visits,” Galloway said. “It was fun just to meet with families and go out to dinner. I was like a salesman for sure.”
Galloway reached out to sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo, a two-time First-Team All-Pac-12 selection at the University of Arizona, and Galloway was an active participant in Ballo’s visit.
Be it dinners at locations the coaches chose or merely hanging out in their free time, Galloway emphasized spending time with the players off-court — an invaluable learning opportunity for both parties.
“Getting to know the guys, getting a feel, having that camaraderie with the guys and getting everybody together was good,” Galloway said. “That's one thing you need to know, because if you hang out at the facilities and don't hang out off the court, they don't really get a chance to know you, so it was good to have that.”
And in each interaction, Galloway spoke from his heart — not a script — rooted in four years of experience with Hoosier basketball.
“I think we got the pieces we wanted,” Galloway said. “And I'm just glad that all happened and it’s over with, and now we're here.”
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Galloway stood on the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center’s hallway carpet, sporting a cream-colored Louis Vuitton suit, black tie and light blue handkerchief. Rice stood a few feet to his right, handling his own one-on-one interview.
In the span of six months, Galloway and Rice went from Instagram direct messages to serving as Indiana’s player representatives at Big Ten Basketball Media Days in Rosemont, Illinois.
Now, Galloway’s bracing for his final year of college basketball. He said this year’s Hoosier squad is the most talented he’s been on. External expectations are high, as Indiana enters the season ranked No. 17 nationally.
No matter what happens for the Hoosiers this season, Galloway’s stamp will be all over it — and he thinks fruitful results will follow.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
